September 5, 2005
By Ndaba Dlamini
SOME 50 years ago, Sophiatown residents were forcibly removed from their homes by the apartheid regime to out of the way places such as Meadowlands. A play reliving these painful memories, Sophiatown, is now showing at the Market Theatre, in Newtown.
Directed by Malcolm Purkey, an award-winning theatre director and playwright, Sophiatown takes the audience back to the vibrant culture of the township when the Americans and the Berliners - Sophiatown's gangs - ruled the roost.
"Sophiatown the place was so rich with possibility, so full of extraordinary people, so historically significant that a play built on that legacy has a wonderful headstart, and a simple attempt to honour the memory is given gold on a platter," Purkey says.
The plot focuses on the extraordinary life of a Sophiatown household, headed by a pompous township tsotsi called Mingus. Mingus, played by Arthur Lolepo, gives a vivid glimpse into what it was like to be one of Sophiatown's notorious gangsters.
Always dressed in flashy American clothes - elegant Stetson hat, immaculate suit and shiny black shoes - Mingus is no different in appearance from Jakes, who rents a backyard room. However Jakes, played by the talented Siyabonga Twala, pursues a different career. He is a "new journalist", who has the gift of giving Mingus's love letters a unique flavour.
Into this household is thrown a young white woman, who almost completes the picture of the multiracial cauldron Sophiatown would have grown into had it been left to live. Ruth is eager to open the doors to a society that is suspicious of her presence.
Tolerance and understanding develops between Ruth, played by Ashleigh Harvey, and other members of the household. Unfortunately, however, it is torn apart when the police and bulldozers rip through Sophiatown, permanently ending the relationships that existed in the household.
Sophiatown is interspersed with exhilarating acappella music and dance that takes one down memory lane to the 1950s and 1960s. Purkey says the play keeps those wonderful Sophiatown moments "alive and fresh". "Only one thing seems to have changed really radically: the demography and meaning of Yeoville."
Sophiatown is on at the Main Theatre at the Market Theatre Complex until 23 October on Tuesdays to Sundays. Performances start at 8pm; the Sunday shows start at 3pm.
For more information, contact the Market Theatre publicity department on 011 832 1641.
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